Overview
This master’s course aims to respond to the demand for data scientists with the skills to develop innovative computational intelligence applications, capable of analysing large amounts of complex data to inform businesses decisions and market strategies.
Multidisciplinary content covers machine learning, neural networks, big data analysis, information retrieval, fuzzy systems and evolutionary computation. You will have opportunities to undertake practical projects, applying your learning to real-life problems in business, finance, security, industry control, engineering, natural language processing, information retrieval and bioinformatics.
Coventry University offers chances to learn alongside active researchers in areas such as pervasive computing, distributed computing and application, as well as innovative applications for interactive virtual worlds.
Work placement option
This master's programme provides you with the additional option to apply for a 'work placement' opportunity during your first semester with us. The 'work placement' is designed to further develop your skills, knowledge and professional experience with the aim of maximising your employability prospects. Please note that the optional placement modules incur an additional tuition fee of £4,000
Why Coventry University?
An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.
COVID-19
The University may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via emerging online technologies and methods across all courses. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are prepared for courses due to start in or after the 2020/2021 academic year to be delivered in a variety of forms. The form of delivery will be determined in accordance with Government and Public Health guidance. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.
Due to the ongoing restrictions relating to Covid-19, some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) and some non-academic offerings (particularly in relation to international experiences), may vary from those advertised and may have reduced availability or restrictions on their use.
Global ready
An international outlook, with global opportunitiesEmployability
Career-ready graduates, with the skills to succeedStudent experience
All the support you need, in a top student cityAccreditation and Professional Recognition
This course is accredited and recognised by the following bodies:

Chartered Management Institute
As part of this course you will undertake a professional development module which is currently accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) for the 2021-22 intake. Upon successful completion of the module, you will gain the CMI Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice at no additional cost. Further details can be found under the ‘course detail’ tab and on the Professional Development module homepage.
Coventry University’s accreditation with CMI is currently ongoing for the relevant modules and is regularly reviewed and monitored by the CMI through their quality systems. If any changes occur with respect to our accreditation related to these modules, we will seek to notify applicants and students as soon as possible.
What our students say...
At first I was apprehensive on starting this Master's programme due to my Mechanical Engineering background. However, the professors and staff provided all the support and guidance I needed to succeed in the modules. I feel much more confident to continue my career in this area since the top required skills were covered in the program. An online data science course could not have provided the same level of personal experience and quality.
Course information
Big data processing and information retrieval drives some of the world most successful and high-tech businesses; from well-known companies like Google and Twitter, to specialist medical informatics providers and even space exploration.
The main theme throughout this course is automatic big data processing and information retrieval through machine learning, neural network and evolutionary computing. We aim to cover how to apply cutting-edge machine learning techniques to analyse big datasets, assess the statistical significance of data mining results and perform advanced data mining tasks.
We will introduce you to important frameworks which may include Hadoop Map Reduce, Spark, applications of relational databases and NoSQL databases in combination with easy to use and powerful development tools such as Scala, Python, Matlab and R. We will look at emerging theories, practices, approaches and management of distributed and intelligent computing systems, examining a wide range of case studies to see how applications have been developed and for what purposes, such as steganography detection system for colour stego images.
The focus of the MSc Data Science and Computational Intelligence course is on applications of data science methods and tools, combined with computational intelligence techniques for data-driven problem solving including the analysis, interpretation and visualisation of complex data, which is in increasing demand in fields such as marketing, pharmaceutics, finance, transportation, medicine, and management.
A unique aspect of this course is the delivery through a wide range of activities and problem based learning in the context of the current research or industry consultancy projects, conducted by the academics responsible for teaching on this course. Please note, staff may be subject to change.
Course Specification
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Modules
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
In more detail...
Big data is enabling companies to unlock previously hidden information in areas ranging from customer behaviour to how their businesses function, providing vital insight that can affect the profitability and sustainability of an organisation.
In a world where technology is advancing at a rapid pace, data-driven scientific discovery represents one of the most exciting developments – already making a huge impact in the social and services sectors enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing.
This course is designed to equip you with the skills and expertise in the emerging big data mining techniques required for the analysis, interpretation and visualisation of complex, high-volume, high-dimensional, structured and unstructured data from a variety of sources.
We aim to provide an understanding of data science and computational intelligence, including specialist knowledge in machine learning, neural networks, evolutionary and fuzzy computing, data and web mining, and information retrieval, as well as important development tools and platforms.
Through practical activities, industry input and a focus on skills development, we seek to foster an informed, flexible and critical approach to problem solving, giving you the confidence, professionalism, knowledge and skills to adapt to modern technological environments.
Enjoying high levels of student satisfaction for our teaching, we offer modern facilities, including specialist computing labs with high-performance hardware along with the utilisation of industry-standard software and collaboration coding platforms, such as Github.
You will be given the chance to work alongside staff conducting research in the fields of: computational intelligence; intelligent information modelling and retrieval; distributed systems and modelling; interactive worlds; digital security and forensics; and biomedical technologies.
We enjoy industry links with national and international companies and you may also be given an opportunity to showcase your work to potential employers at our annual New Wizards Showcase event.
- 42% of ‘Computer Science and Informatics’ research was judged to be world leading or internationally excellent in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014).
- Facilities that include a large range of specialised computing laboratories in computer security, communications and signal processing, electrical, electronics and microprocessors, ethical hacking and forensic computing, together with a games and multimedia studio and open access computer facilities.
Your main study themes are:
- Introduction to Statistical Methods for Data Science: This module aims to provide you with knowledge of widely used statistical methods, and their application, in data science. On successful completion of this module, you should have learned the fundamental principles of probability theory and statistics, including distribution theory, required on the course. In addition, this module aims to introduce distribution theory and statistical inference, including estimation, maximum likelihood estimators, hypothesis testing, and the foundation of Bayesian inference. This module then introduces important general aspects of statistical modelling and data analysing for computer and simulation experiments. The general principle of a wide range of well-known statistical models will be explored in detail and their usage to solve some real world applications will be demonstrated using the modern statistical software.
- Intelligent Information Retrieval: Information retrieval is among the core activities driving some of the world’s successful and high-tech businesses including Google, Facebook, and Twitter. This module aims to expose you to a range of common information retrieval methods, including both theory and practice. The module mainly emphasises text retrieval, covering only a brief outline of multimedia information retrieval. In addition, it emphasises data mining methods, especially for text classification and document clustering problems. Course work requires implementation in a computer programming language.
- Data Management Systems: This module aims to provide you with a sound knowledge of the theoretical and practical underpinnings of data management systems in centralised and distributed environments. This module is motivated by the need to harness the potential of traditional systems and of modern schemes, which arose in response to the challenges posed by big data. The organisation and delivery of the module implements a two-pronged approach, through the investigation of data models and through the study and application of relational databases and NoSQL databases. The study of distributed frameworks such as Hadoop, and relevant distributed techniques such as sharding and replication, will aim to provide further enhancement to the scope of the module.
- Machine Learning and Data Mining: Machine learning is the process whereby systems learn by identifying structures and patterns within data. As such, it has proved an important tool in various applications, including data mining, games design, diagnosis and natural language processing. We cover a broad field of intelligent techniques and their associated algorithms, such as data preparation and pre-processing, reinforcement learning, supervised and unsupervised learning, classification and clustering, applications of machine learning and future developments.
- Artificial Neural Networks: This module introduces the concepts used in neural networks and their application to solving real-world problems. Neural networks, a popular machine learning approach that attempts to model how the human brain works, is used in a wide range of applications, including image processing, speech and natural language processing, medical diagnosis, bioinformatics and computational biology, emotion recognition, robotics and control. We will explore different neural network computational approaches and structure, neural network learning and teaching, convolutional neural networks, deep learning and applications of neural networks in plenty of industrial settings.
- Big Data Management and Data Visualisation: Organisations and businesses are being inundated with very large volumes of data - structured and unstructured - on a daily basis. This data is too big and complex for processing and analysing using well known traditional methods. This module aims to introduce you to the current management and visualisation methods for big data. Cutting edge techniques will be taught which will enable you to discover patterns, relationships and associations in big data sets. You will have the opportunity to engage with the emerging critical issues within the context of traditional database management systems which make them unsuitable to process big data. Thus, the nature of big data, recognised by its volume, velocity and variety, which prevents analysis in the normal setting of a traditional database, will be studied and advanced analytical techniques required to understand big data will be covered.
- Advanced Machine Learning: This module aims to provide you with an understanding of more advanced concepts in machine learning, focusing on statistical methods for supervised and unsupervised learning. The module is structured around recent developments on: Gaussian processes for regression and classification, Latent Dirichlet Allocation models for unsupervised text modelling and topic modelling, and probabilistic graphical models as a powerful framework for representing complex domains using probability distributions. This module will also introduce evolutionary algorithms and fuzzy systems from an application oriented standpoint. We aim to study the key concepts of fuzzy sets as a methodology for handling imprecise and uncertain information. Applications of fuzzy systems and fuzzy controllers will be discussed along with coverage of their use in hybrid intelligent systems in combination with other Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques.
- Individual Research Project Preparation: This module provides the background in study skills and research methods needed to enable you to carry out an applied or enquiry-based research project.
- Master’s Project: You will undertake an overarching project under the supervision of one of our highly qualified academics. The project will cover several aspects of the studied techniques and implementation from the taught modules. Guided by an expert tutor, this project helps to develop your research and practical skills and gain experience similar to that of a data scientist professional. Previous student projects have included: analysing big data for the movie industry; oil extraction and refinement analysis; customers’ emotion recognition; speech and tone recognition; text sentiment analysis; performing automatic scene labelling and object recognition; fuzzy controllers; and designing a neural networks robotics controller for helping the elderly.
The programme allows you to study full-time over one year or part-time over two years. Whilst we would like to give you all the information about our part-time offering here, it is tailored for each course each year depending on the number of part-time applicants. Therefore, the part-time teaching arrangements vary. Please request information about studying this course part-time.
We stress practicality whenever appropriate and try to strike a good balance between theory and application, as well as industrial-related experience and current research topics. A variety of equipment and software are used for these purposes, including HPC clusters and a GPU server purposely built for deep machine learning and neural networks tasks.
There may be opportunities to attend external talks, by our academic and research staff, as well as visiting lecturers, which aim to bring you the latest issues on a wide range of topics, such as intelligent services, image processing and big data analytics. These may be in person or virtually.
Teaching methods include: a range of creatively designed practical tasks, projects, lectures and tutorials.
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which could vary depending upon the module. Assessment methods include coursework, essays, project, group work and formal examination.
The Coventry University assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes. Assessments may include exams, individual assignments or group work elements.
On successful completion, you will have knowledge of:
- The fundamental principles and techniques of data science and computational intelligence.
- Analysing complex, high-volume, high-dimensional, structured/unstructured data from varying sources.
- The combination of theory and practical application of data science and computational intelligence methods and techniques.
- Professional, legal, social, cultural and ethical issues related to data science, computational intelligence and an awareness of societal and environmental impact.
On successful completion, you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate current research problems and apply cutting-edge developments of data science and to computational intelligence areas.
- Critically evaluate a range of possible options solutions or architectures to address a sizeable data application and present a soundly reasoned justification for the final solution.
- Demonstrate competence, creativity and innovation in solving unfamiliar problems.
- Communicate effectively outcomes from major projects to technical and non-technical audiences. Select and apply relevant knowledge and skills in big data applications using relevant tools and technologies.
- Identify and make effective and systematic use of a range of suitable techniques for developing solutions to complex data and analytical problems.
A 15-credit module will typically have around 30 hours of contact time associated with it. This will include a combination of, but may not be limited to, lectures, small-group sessions, laboratory sessions and support sessions. In addition, you will be expected to undertake significant self-directed study each week, depending on the demands of individual modules.
As an innovative and enterprising institution, the University may seek to utilise emerging technologies within the student experience. For all courses (whether on-campus, blended, or distance learning), the University may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via online technologies and methods.
If you have a desire to travel, it is possible to spend a period abroad for part of your studies, for as little as two weeks. We also offer you the chance to participate in field trips to a number of different overseas locations, which have previously included China, Poland, Spain and Finland.
Please note that we are unable to guarantee any placement or study abroad opportunities and that any such opportunities referred to on this webpage may be subject to additional costs (e.g. travel, visas and accommodation etc.), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand the requirements in this regard, please contact the International Office for further details if you are an EU or International student.
Global ready
Did you know we help more students travel internationally than any other UK university according to data from the experts in higher education data and analysis, HESA?
In 2018/19, we were able to provide a total of 5,469 experiences abroad that lasted at least five days.
Much of this travel is made possible through our Global Leaders Programme, which enables students to prepare for the challenges of the global employment market, as well as strengthening and developing their broader personal and professional skills.
Explore our international experiences1st for
International experiences
Sending more students overseas than any other UK uni 2016/17
5,469
Student experiences
The number of student trips abroad for at least 5 days in 2018/19
12,000
and counting
The number of students we’ve helped travel internationally since 2016
12
global programmes
As well as trips, we offer other opportunities like language courses
What our students say...
At first I was apprehensive on starting this Master's programme due to my mechanical engineering background. However, the professors and staff provided all the support and guidance I needed to succeed in the modules. I feel much more confident to continue my career in this area since the top required skills were covered in the program. An online data science course could not have provided the same level of personal experience and quality.
Entry Requirements
Tuition Fees
We pride ourselves on offering competitive tuition fees which we review on an annual basis and offer a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and we aim for total financial transparency.
Course essentials – additional costs
This course may incur additional costs associated with any field trips, placements or work experience, study abroad opportunities or any other opportunity (whether required or optional), which could include (but is not limited to) travel, accommodation, activities and visas.This course may incur additional costs associated with any equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire.EU student fees
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year remain eligible for the same fees as home students and the same financial support. Financial support comes from Student Finance England, and covers undergraduate and postgraduate study for the duration of their course, providing they meet the residency requirement.
For tuition fee loans
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year must have resided in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that three year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
For maintenance loans
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year must have resided in the UK and Islands for the five years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that five year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
What our students say...
At first I was apprehensive on starting this Master's programme due to my mechanical engineering background. However, the professors and staff provided all the support and guidance I needed to succeed in the modules. I feel much more confident to continue my career in this area since the top required skills were covered in the program. An online data science course could not have provided the same level of personal experience and quality.
Career prospects
Graduate Immigration Route visa
Based on current information from the UK Government, international students whose study extends beyond summer 2021 may be eligible for a visa under the UK Government’s Graduate Immigration Route, which will enable students to stay and work, or look for work, in the UK at any skill level for up to two (2) years. Check the most up to date guidance available to check your eligibility and any updates from the UK Government before making an application or enrolment decision.
The highly-regarded Harvard Business Review has previously declared the role of ‘data scientist’ to be the sexiest career of the 21st century.
The explosion in the amount of available data now available to businesses, coupled with its potential value to improve competitive advantage, is driving the continued strong demand for data scientists throughout the world. In the UK alone, a 2019 Royal Society report found that demand for workers with specialist data skills like data scientists and data engineers had more than tripled over five years.
Opportunities following successful completion of this course could include careers as data scientists, data professionals and data analysts in variety of sectors including financial services, retail, marketing, customer and business intelligence.
The practical nature of our course places an emphasis on your future employability, developing a wide range of technical, analytical, design and professional skills.
Coventry University is committed to preparing you for your future career and aims to give you a competitive edge in the graduate job market. The university's Talent Team provide a wide range of support services to help you plan and prepare for your career.
Where our graduates work
This master’s course aims to provide students with the analytical tools to construct more desirable technical solutions using advanced computational methods, with an emphasis on rigorous statistical reasoning. As a result, graduates should gain the skills for roles in a wide range of sectors including; finance, marketing, academia, scientific research, health and medicine, the retail market, information technology, government, ecommerce, energy, transportation, telecommunications, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Disclaimer
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the 2020/21 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.
The tuition fee for the course that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, EU students should be aware that there may be a change to UK laws following the UK’s exit, this may change their student status, their eligibility to study part time, and/or their eligibility for student finance. We will act in accordance with the UK’s laws in force in relation to student tuition fees and finance from time to time.
For International students the tuition fee that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For international students, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.